Known smoking apparatuses are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. For example, the majority of existing smoking apparatuses are not capable of holding in place a screen located in a bowl area of the smoking apparatus. In addition, conventional smoking apparatuses that are capable of holding a screen in place often employ clamps or some other hardware in order for the screen to be held in place and must be disassembled in order for the flexible screen to be removed.
Over the years, pipes, bongs and other smoking or vaporizing apparatuses have been designed with a screen located in the bowl of the device to limit debris generated from the smoking product from being inhaled or ingested by the user. Other advantages of having a screen include: limiting the internal buildup of smoking product in the device, and preventing the smoking product from being wasted as it is drawn out of the bowl.
Despite the many advantages cited for having a screen, most smoking apparatuses are not equipped with this feature due to flaws in their design. Existing designs are complicated and ineffective. One such example of a known design flaw is that current smoking apparatuses require additional hardware to hold a screen in place at the bottom of the bowl. Moreover, the user is then required to disassemble the smoking apparatus in order to remove the screen for cleaning or replacement purposes. Because removal of the screen in this case is time consuming, most users choose not to employ a smoking apparatus of this type. Further, existing smoking apparatuses require a complex and costly manufacturing process, which is less than ideal.
Another design flaw lies in the fact that glass is the material of choice when it comes to smoking apparatuses. Glass offers little resistance against the screen sliding out of place and is thus ineffective at retaining the screens or filtering devices presently employed. Current designs of glass pipes and glass smoking apparatuses are unable to effectively prevent common screen or filtering devices from inadvertently falling out of the glass smoking apparatus and do not provide an easy way to filter out tine particulates. The slickness of the glass material with respect to the screen or filtering device is another reason why current designs are inadequate.
Conventional smoking apparatuses do not provide convenient and effective means for installing, removing, and/or interchanging filters to filter out particulates. Certain known smoking apparatuses require a user to at least partially disassemble the smoking apparatus to install and remove a filter. Some existing smoking apparatuses do not allow the end user to replace the filter. Still other smoking apparatuses require specially configured filters, which limit the end user's choice of filters that may be used in the smoking apparatus.
Thus, there exists a need for smoking apparatuses that improve upon and advance the design of known smoking apparatuses. Examples of new and useful smoking apparatuses relevant to the needs existing in the field are discussed below.